Apanage was a land grant given to younger members of royal families who would not inherit under the primogeniture system. It aimed to prevent family conflicts and maintain control of possessions. However, it was not always successful, and with the adoption of new systems of government, it was phased out.
An apanage or appanage was a land grant given by the ruler to members of the royal family who would be without inheritance in nations using the primogeniture system. This system was used extensively in France, as well as many other nations, and legacies of apanage can be seen today in the form of provinces and districts once owned by younger members of royal families. In nations where monarchies have been replaced by other forms of government, maintenance paid to support surviving members of the royal family is sometimes referred to as a form of apanage.
According to the rules of primogeniture, all property goes to the eldest son, while everyone else in the family gets nothing. This practice has been adopted in a number of countries to replace the system of equal division of property between family members. Primogeniture was designed to maintain the integrity of estates, keeping them large and consolidating power, but it was extremely unwelcome among the younger members of the family, who inherited nothing and were forced to seek their fortunes elsewhere.
The resentment created through the primogeniture system proved a problem in some regions, where family members might engage in feuding and civil war as they fought for control of estates. Apanage was conceived as a system to address this problem. The monarch made land grants to his younger sons with the understanding that the land could not be sold, transferred, or used as a dowry. In return, the sons agreed not to attack their older brothers and the land they controlled would revert to the crown should their lines become extinct.
Members of the nobility sometimes employed similar systems to prevent family conflicts. The system allowed families to maintain control of their possessions while ensuring that younger siblings did not become restless. In practice, the apanage has not always been successful. In nations such as France, it was not uncommon for residents of regions held in apanage to have more loyalty to their lords than to the king, and people sometimes took advantage of their popularity to assault the monarchy. The rivalries continued, with the young brothers drawing the wealth and power from the lands they controlled to vie for the kingdom.
With the adoption of new systems of government, the apanage system was also gradually phased out. Today, primogeniture is an unusual form of inheritance in many regions of the world, and most royal families lack the power and control they once wielded.
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